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The Black Hole (2008) - Office Copier Prints Round Black Spot

The Black Hole (2008) - A 30 something man, Charlie, is working the night shift. He is very tired and has had a long day already. Everyone else has gone home and he has a huge pile of copying to do, with important deadlines for the next day. He is dazed from sleep deprivation and spinning out a little from his coffee high, necking Pro Plus and washing it down with his 5th cup. The room is atmospherically lit with the sodium glow of florescent lighting and we get a real sense of repetition, monotony and a man who is completely bored with his job - on the edge of quitting but with nowhere else to go. Without warning the copier begins to shake and make strange noises, the scanner flashes repeating over and over, but nothing is coming out of the printer. Charlie is clearly annoyed, hitting the machine and punching buttons. The copier suddenly goes silent and still - Charlie throws his hands up in frustration. Out of desperation he kicks the copier and it spits out one A3 print of a large round black spot centred...

"The Black Hole" is a short and deep tale of greed of human nature. Silently and in three minutes this little short film delivers a single punch-line that is an end to the tale and it does it is a very enjoyable way. It is impressive how the writers and directors Philip Sansom and Olly Williams were able to make a short of less than 3 minutes running time without any line and succeed in transmitting one of the seven deadly sins ( "Avaritia") so perfectly and with right dose of humor.